Slide 15
Slide 15 text
Matrix Algebra
Linear Algebra:
Introduction
Vectors and vector
arithmetic
Matrices
Solving systems of
linear equations
3.15
Testing for linear dependence
A criterion for establishing linear dependence
v1, v2, ...,vk , are linearly dependent iff there exists some
scalars α1, α2, ...αk
, not all zero, s.t.,
α1
v1 + α2
v2 + ... + αk
vk = 0.
Proof: We show this for k = 3. Suppose that v1 can be written
as a linear combination of v2 and v3. This implies that
v1 = λv2 + µv3 for some scalars λ and µ.
⇒ λv2 + µv3 − v1 = 0
Taking the property of vectors established previously, i.e., −u =
(−1)u, we have
(−1)v1 + λv2 + µv3 = 0
Hence, we have the scalars −1, λ, µ not all equal to 0 (since
−1 = 0) such that α1
v1 + α2
v2 + α3
v3 = 0.